Protesters break into COP30 site in Brazil

Protesters holding signs reading “our forests are not for sale” broke through security lines at the COP30 climate negotiations Tuesday evening in Belém, Brazil.

BBC journalists saw UN security personnel running behind a line of Brazilian soldiers shouting at delegates to leave immediately.

The UN told BBC News the incident caused minor injuries to two security personnel, in addition to limited damage to the site.

Videos on social media showed protesters who appeared to belong to indigenous groups and others waving flags with the logo of a left-wing Brazilian youth movement called Juntos.

Protesters, some wearing what appeared to be traditional indigenous clothing, stormed the entrance to COP30, chanting and smashing down doors, before scrambling with security personnel, videos posted online showed.

Protesters broke through the first security barriers at the venue and were then prevented from entering further, the UN told the BBC.

A security guard said he was hit in the head by a drum thrown by a protester, according to the Reuters news agency.

This is a highly unusual security breach at a conference with strict protocols.

Brazilian and UN authorities are investigating the incident, according to the UN.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries are participating in the COP30 negotiations, which officially take place from Monday, November 10 to Friday, November 21.

This year’s gathering comes ten years after the Paris climate agreement, in which countries committed to trying to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C.

This is the first time the conference has been held in Brazil, with discussions taking place in Belém, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest.

The choice of location proved a controversial decision for a number of reasons, in part due to Amazon residents, many of whom are highly critical of the environmental damage caused to their homes by climate change and deforestation.

Brazil also continued to grant new licenses for oil and gas which, along with coal, are fossil fuels, the main cause of global warming.

An indigenous leader from the Tupinamba community told Reuters: “We can’t eat money” and that they were unhappy with the rainforest development.

“We want our lands free from agribusiness, oil exploration, illegal miners and illegal loggers,” he said.

This year’s meetings have been dubbed “the indigenous peoples’ COP”, with Brazilian organizers promising to put indigenous peoples at the center of negotiations.

Brazil’s Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, called COP30 a “historic” event and estimated that 3,000 indigenous peoples from around the world would participate.

A UN report released earlier this year said indigenous peoples safeguard 80% of the planet’s remaining biodiversity, yet receive less than 1% of international climate funding.

Indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected by climate change due to their dependence on the natural environment and its resources.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said at the summit’s opening that the world must “defeat” climate denialism and fight fake news.

He said the decision to hold COP30 in Belém was intended to show that the Amazon is an essential part of the climate solution, adding that “COP30 will be the COP of truth” in an era of “misrepresentations” and “rejection of scientific evidence.”

According to the president, the “most diverse biome on Earth” is home to nearly 50 million people, including 400 indigenous groups.